Regardless the type of insurance, it is the responsibility of the insured to make the premiums payments on time. We have all heard this before and despite efforts within the insurance community, meaning agents, brokers and the insurance companies themselves, many clients still do not make this a priority in their daily lives. We all get it; you do not even want to purchase the insurance in the first place. This is a part of our lives regardless; insurance is there to help should a catastrophic event occur that could financially ruin a business or bankrupt an individual or family. You may think it could never happen to you but it can and eventually something will happen in our lives that we never thought would or could.
With that being said, we get calls all of the time asking why an insurance policy cancelled, I never received a bill. Yes, it is the responsibility of the insurance company to send out a billing statement. In this digital age, there should be no excuse as to why someone has not received their bill. For most, but not all, there is a way to see the billing and payment activity online. For the others, the insured must be proactive and monitor their insurance premium payments carefully.
We cannot stress enough; the cost to an individual, family or business in not keeping up with their premiums payments could mean you are left on your own to pay expenses you simply cannot afford. For some insurance, it is hard or even impossible to re-write at the time you need it most.
Making your insurance premium payments on time is just good common sense. Making sure those payments are applied to your policy is even more important. Let’s face it, there are still people keying the information and the potential of errors is there. My advice is, being proactive is essential; make sure you receive your billing statement either by mail or electronically. Do not ignore the fact that a statement was not received, there may be a reason why, maybe the address is incorrect, or it is lost in the mail somewhere. Check your bank or credit card statements every week to confirm payment was taken from your account. This would be the only recourse should a policy cancel and the funds were misapplied. Keep good records of all your premium payments. Make your payments on time and use automatic payments features where applicable. Make this a priority in your weekly schedule.
